Reign In Blood LP

Album Details

Ten studio albums of original material, thousands of live shows and over three decades into a career that's made them one of the biggest and most important metal bands in the world - the music of thrash metal legends Slayer is as brutal as it is beautiful, as punishing as it is precise, and as uncompromising as it is influential. The Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot hailed Slayer as "one of the great American rock bands of the last 30 years, forget about genre." Indeed, few bands come close to matching the intensity that Slayer - past and present - brings to its album releases and live shows. The band has received numerous nominations and awards, including four Grammy nods and two wins. Now, the single most distinctive and radical thrash metal band of all-time, will see its ten American Recordings albums reissued on vinyl courtesy of Universal Music Group including Reign In Blood (1986), South of Heaven (1988), Seasons In The Abyss (1990), Live: Decade of Aggression (1991), Divine Intervention (1994), Undisputed Attitude (1996), Diabolus in Musica (1998), God Hates Us All (2001), Christ Illusion (2006), and World Painted Blood (2009). Widely hailed as the most brutal thrash metal album of all time, Slayer's 1986 speed metal magnum opus Reign In Blood is the record from which all other metal acts are measured against, defining not only a genre but an attitude. The band's first collaboration with producer Rick Rubin served as the first of four consecutive gold studio albums, an impressive feat for a band that received little radio or TV exposure. "Angel Of Death," "Piece By Piece," "Altar Of Sacrifice," "Jesus Saves," "Criminally Insane," Postmortem" and "Raining Blood" are all lasting showpieces in the metal canon. "Reign In Blood is our signature record, and if people think that it helped set the path for that genre of music, that's great," said Araya. "It's a record that means a lot to all of us in the band - it was our first record for a major label, and our first record with Rick Rubin who gave it unconditional support." "1986 was a very good year for thrash metal. That March Metallica released Master of Puppets, and six months later Slayer rose to the challenge by dropping Reign In Blood. The latter is seen now as a heavy metal landmark, but at the time it seemed like a bit of a risk. Slayer had left Metal Blade for Def Jam, and they even agreed to work with Rick Rubin, then known only for his work with rap acts like LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys. "It turned out to be a very wise move. Rubin was a metal fan from way back, and he recognized that Slayer had the opportunity to be one of the all-time greats. Reign In Blood sold a huge amount of records back in 1986, and it established Slayer as giants in the world of metal. Three decades later they have yet to slow down or compromise in any way." - #6 on Rolling Stone's Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time Poll